Wine is my favorite sort of edible souvenir. OK, maybe it's my favorite souvenir, period. Nearly every time I travel I bring back a bottle of local wine. This is invariably a nerve-wracking experience, however, especially when traveling internationally. All wine has to go in checked luggage, so I spend ages swaddling it, wrapping it in laundry bags and triple layers of plastic wrap, crossing my fingers and hoping that it doesn't break and soak through the entire bag. Well, this is a worry no more, with the Jet Bag — a sealed bag and diaper for your wine.
Yes, I said diaper for your wine. The Jet Bag is a tall bag with a zip-lock closure. It's made of thick plastic, and it has a padded, absorbent interior. This absorbent material is really like nothing so much as a disposable diaper, Huggies-esque.
This is a good thing, I suppose, given that diapers are designed to be absorbent and to soak up as much liquid as possible. This bag is designed with that in mind as well. If the padding fails to protect your wine (or olive oil, or liquor, or other contents of a fragile bottle) then the absorbent material will soak it right up.
I put this to the test on a recent flight. I stuffed several oddly shaped and fragile jars into one Jet Bag and put it in a suitcase that was then checked and jostled between several cabs and airplanes. All arrived safe and sound.
I did not, however, put the absorbent quality of the bag to the test. I do wonder about the zip-lock closure; it seems a little weak; would it really prevent liquid from leaking out? I would probably still always wrap a bottle in a Jet Bag in one more layer of plastic protection — an extra grocery or laundry bag, perhaps. But I certainly plan to take these reusable bags along with me on future trips. The padding and protection gives me just one extra layer of peace of mind, when I have a bottle of red wine in my luggage.
• Find them: JetBag Padded Absorbent Bottle Bags, Set of 3, $7.99 at Amazon
Have you ever used a Jet Bag or a similar product? How do you make sure that wine and other fragile food items make it home in one piece?
Related: Tasty Travels: What Was Your Best Edible Souvenir?
Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Pfff. Totally unnecessary. I've brought back dozens of bottles of wine, olive oil, etc. in my suitcases over the years. Just stuck 'em in a plastic grocery bag with the handles tied in a knot (or in a big Ziploc if I was feeling fancy) then cushioned them with clothes. Never had one break in five years of schlepping from abroad.
I agree with Kris0218. I always pack bottles (shampoo, wine, oils, whatever) in a ziploc. But, with wine or liquor, every place I've ever bought it (US or otherwise) they always offer to pack it in a cardboard single carrier to transport, eliminating the breakage especially if you cram a tshirt in the carrier before you pack. This thing is a cool idea, but it does seem unnecessary.
I did a review for my site. The bag held up surprisingly well!
http://cocktailhacker.com/?p=1894
I'm going to pick up a couple for bringing bottle back from trips.
-R
We just got back from Sonoma Valley and we brought back several bottles in our suitcases just the was @Kris0218 describes, above. This might be good for extra insurance, but seems unnecessary.
I was recently in Sonoma and saw these all over the place. Of course I brought home wine, so I can endorse that positive review. I can't imagine why we don't have them here on the east coast.
I have had a bottle of red wine break in a suitcase (I was coming back from Chile, and my bag got searched and re-packed at the airport). It was really, really bad.
It was bad enough that I would consider buying a wine diaper.
I could have used something like that on my return from Amsterdam a few years back. I'd bought a very expensive bottle of genever while there. I thought I'd packed it adequately in my husband's carry on luggage, but I hadn't. When he dropped the bag, the crockery bottle cracked. Not only did we lose the genever, all the books he'd brought with him were ruined and that bag never did stop smelling of booze. And we smelled like alcohol walking through customs, which made me nervous, because they might take us aside for extra inspection. So yeah, if I bring back a bottle again, I'd definitely use one of these.
I've never had a broken bottle, and I always buy wine or olive oil as a souvenir. So don't feel I need this. At all.
I use the Bottle Armor bags and feel a lot better about things. Sure I have brought things back without them prior but at least this way I don't have any worries. If something does happen it is contained. We mostly drink red wine and i love olive oil which heaven help my I don't even want to deal with breakage of that! It's not worth taking a chance.